Robert Bollinger hands CEO reins of his EV maker to GM vet James Taylor

With production of the company's first commercial Class 4 electric chassis cab months away and an order book that is filling fast, Bollinger Motors' Robert Bollinger has stepped aside as CEO of the company he originally founded to build off-road vehicles.

Former General Motors executive James Taylor, who in his 30-year GM career held senior management positions — including president and general manager of Cadillac in 2005-08 and CEO of Hummer in 2008-10 — took over as Bollinger Motors CEO on June 29.

Robert Bollinger will remain on the company's board in an unspecified capacity. He retains a portion of the company's shares.

Taylor's resume includes positions at EV startups, including Electric Last Mile Solutions, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2022. That company was bought by Bollinger Motors' largest shareholder, California's Mullen Automotive, which is struggling to launch a variety of commercial EVs.

The move comes at a crucial time. This summer, Bollinger Motors' contract manufacturer, Roush Enterprises is installing the production line for the B4 electric chassis cab, scheduled to begin production by the end of the year. The company has booked enough orders to cover at least a year of production.

Robert Bollinger, 57, said the company has grown to 130 employees, most of whom work at the firm's headquarters in Oak Park, Mich., north of Detroit.

"Mullen made a public announcement a month ago about how they are going invest more in Bollinger Motors," Robert Bollinger told Automotive News. "It was really at that point they would be a very large shareholder in the company. It made sense for Jim Taylor to be in that [CEO ] role. It was a decision made to have someone who has 30 years' experience in automotive, an automotive guy, a Detroit guy, his whole life. Someone who knows automotive more than me. It just made sense on many levels."

It's possible the two vehicles that brought Bollinger to Detroit in 2018 -- the brawny B1 and B2 electric off-road vehicles -- could still be made. Development of those two continues at a slow pace, Bollinger said.